Boyle Leads Band of Brothers

Jack Boyle, a former role player who has emerged as front man, led Christian Brothers Academy of New Jersey to its latest record-shattering performance on Saturday in the Shore Conference championship at Ocean County Park in Lakewood. Boyle placed a close second as the Colts, the 2011 national champion and top-ranked boys’ team again this fall, took five of the top seven places with a team average time of 15:08.7 for the fast 5K course.

Shore, with more than 40 schools, is the state’s largest conference. It combines Monmouth and Ocean counties, both of which border the Jersey Shore. While no team has been able to run close to CBA this fall, there was one menacing force that got in its face earlier this week: Hurricane Sandy.

Many CBA runners live in towns near the Shore. Boyle lives right on the Shore, in Avon, two blocks from the beach in the area where Sandy hit land on Monday. On Sunday, he and his family were clearing their porch and getting their home storm ready. All schools in New Jersey were ordered closed for at least Monday and Tuesday. Training plans were out the window.

That blip in the schedule should hardly affect the Colts, who seem unstoppable as they race toward a repeat Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) title on Dec. 1 in Portland, Ore. Boyle, a Columbia-bound senior who turns 18 in November, fought undefeated [Tom O’Neill[4]] of Middletown North to the wire on Saturday. O’Neill clocked 15:03.86. Boyle ran 15:04.45. His teammates followed him across the line in close order.

Last year at this time, Boyle was further back in the team pecking order. CBA head coach Tom Heath deployed Boyle something like a team rabbit. “He was able to run hard through the middle of a course better than most, and we had him take the pace,” said Heath. “In some cases he went out too hard and struggled. But doing that has made him a much better runner now. He’s the physical force of our team.”

Late last fall, Boyle found his rhythm and was the Colts No. 2 man at both the NXN Northeast Regional and NXN championship, in which CBA defeated the runner-up, Southlake Carroll of Texas, in a 91-95 thriller. Boyle built on that momentum in track, highlighting his spring season with a state 3200m victory in 9:08.28.

Over the summer, Boyle did his greatest volume ever, 80 miles a week and up, and the team still hits that level on weeks when it doesn’t have a race coming up. One new wrinkle in the CBA training repertoire, said Boyle, is that the team will do a hard mile-and-a-half or 2,000 meters at 5K race pace, before starting an interval session. “Last year,” said Boyle, “we were a speed team. This year we’re more of a strength team.”

Heath said that Boyle keeps the team focused—“on the last one,” as he referred to NXN—with a quiet strength. “He’s low-key, even keeled, doesn’t get excited,” said Heath. “But he’s very intense in practice. He’s always the one take the pace, forcing things.”

Boyle, 6’2” and 140 pounds, started running in grammar school. When he entered CBA, he was not sure if he’d run or play soccer. “When I tried out for freshman cross-country, I fell in love with it,” he said.

Once this week’s storm clears out, Boyle and his teammates can resume normal training with four consecutive weeks of racing looming ahead: the state group meet on Nov. 10 and state Meet of Champions on Nov. 17, with regionals and nationals following.

CBA has acquired an aura of invincibility. But complacency is its enemy. Southlake Carroll is again ranked No. 2 in the country this season with a team that has been smashing course records. Boyle has been helping the three CBA boys who were not on the 2011 varsity, and did not compete in Portland, get a handle on the national event.

“We’ve been telling them about the course, and how the race goes out,” said Boyle. “That conditions are different than what they’re used to.”